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The former controller for the D.C.-based Federation of American Hospitals pleaded guilty yesterday to embezzling $377,000 from the powerful lobbying group.

Douglas Mairena of Falls Church faces up to 30 months in prison when he is sentenced in April under federal sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutors in the District say Mairena cut more than $325,000 in phony checks to himself and gave a co-worker more than $50,000 in stolen money.

Mark Freeman, 43, of the District, already has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing in the case.

MARYLAND

BALTIMORE

Mother sentenced in girl’s confinement

The mother of a 15-year-old girl chained to a bed for four days by the woman’s boyfriend was sentenced to five years’ probation yesterday.

Tia Whitehead, 34, was sentenced to a five-year prison term with all five years suspended. She has to complete a 12-week parenting program, undergo substance-abuse evaluations and have no unsupervised contact with her daughter until she completes the parenting program, city prosecutors said.

Whitehead’s boyfriend, Samuel Pounds, 30, was sentenced in December to 18 months in prison and three years’ probation. He also must complete parenting and anger management courses and stay away from the victim and her family.

Pounds chained the girl to the bed by her ankle on June 16. She was discovered when a passer-by heard her yelling for help three days later.

After the passer-by called 911, police broke down a locked door and found the girl wearing nothing but a tank top and underwear on a bed without a mattress. According to court records, she told police that she hadn’t been fed or given anything to drink.

At times, Whitehead unchained her daughter to allow the girl to empty a child’s training toilet.

CENTREVILLE

Husband’s time cut in death by neglect

A judge cut in half the prison sentence for a man convicted in the 2005 starving death of his common-law wife.

John Joseph Dougherty, 54, of Elkton, was sentenced to 10 years, with all but four suspended. On Monday, Queen Anne’s County Circuit Judge Thomas G. Ross cut Dougherty’s sentence to two years, which can be served as a work-release inmate at the Cecil County Detention Center instead of at a state prison. As a result, Dougherty will be able to work at his job at a Delaware auto-body shop, the judge said.

Dougherty expressed remorse at the hearing, which the judge noted that Dougherty had not done during trial. The judge also noted later that Dougherty couldn’t have anticipated that his neglect would have resulted in the death of Mary Elizabeth Kilrain, 46, the mother of his three children.

Prosecutors said Dougherty didn’t commit “one grossly negligent action” but engaged in a sustained period of neglect.

His conviction is being appealed to the Court of Special Appeals.

Dougherty was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter and neglect.

Miss Kilrain was house-bound after suffering an aneurysm in 1999. She was found emaciated and dead in a filthy room in February 2005. An autopsy showed that she died of starvation and dehydration.

BALTIMORE

Father sentenced in infant twins’ deaths

A father who pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of his month-old twins, who suffered malnourishment and fractures of the ribs and skull, was sentenced to 30 years in prison yesterday.

Nathaniel Broadway, 26, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of second-degree murder before jury selection was to begin in his trial. Circuit Judge Allen Schwait sentenced Broadway to two 50-year sentences, but suspended all but 30 years of the concurrent sentences with five years’ supervised probation.

The mother of the children, Sierra Swann, 17, was sentenced to 30 years with all but 15 years suspended and five years’ probation. Swann had pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse resulting in death and agreed to testify against Broadway.

The teenager lived with her infant daughters and their father in an abandoned house with no electricity or plumbing.

The month-old twins were found dead in May 2004.

FREDERICK

Owner of 143 guns sentenced to jail

A man who had 143 guns in his home was sentenced to 18 months in jail for illegally selling and possessing firearms.

David R. Vaisman, 46, of Adamstown, was sentenced Tuesday in Frederick County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to four misdemeanors. In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped 20 other counts.

Vaisman was ordered to serve his sentence in the Frederick County jail, but he could get 8 more years in state prison if he violates conditions of three years’ supervised probation after his release.

Police seized the weapons at Vaisman’s home in April 2005.

REGION

ARLINGTON

Metro station to close for major track work

Metro maintenance crews plan to do major track work around the Blue Line’s Arlington Cemetery station beginning tomorrow night.

The station will be closed from 8 p.m. tomorrow through midnight Monday, a federal holiday, Metro officials said. Metro is adding special service on the Blue, Orange and Yellow lines as an alternative to regular Blue Line service.

Shuttle buses will be available from Arlington Cemetery station throughout the shutdown.

Blue Line trains will operate between Franconia-Springfield and Mount Vernon Square. Some Orange Line trains will serve portions of the Blue Line in Prince George’s County, including Largo Town Center. And Yellow Line trains will run from Huntington in Virginia to Greenbelt in Maryland.

Track workers are replacing a switch, and they expect to complete the work before commuter service opens Tuesday morning.

VIRGINIA

FAIRFAX

Man who fell at GMU committed suicide

A Fairfax man committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of the George Mason University student center Tuesday, university officials said. He fell three stories to an open indoor courtyard.

The man was identified as Martin Klapproth, 26. He had been enrolled as an undergraduate in the fall but was not enrolled for the upcoming semester, university spokesman Daniel Walsch said.

Mr. Klapproth was pronounced dead at a hospital. University police and the state medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, Mr. Walsch said.

The suicide occurred about noon Tuesday in the 11-year-old Johnson Center, which houses the library, dining areas and a bookstore. Although school is not in session, the building was crowded with people preparing for the start of classes.